St Paul's staff have to clean up human waste INSIDE the cathedral as protesters 'use it as a latrine'

Staff at St Paul's have been forced to clear up human waste inside the cathedral, it emerged today.

They have made several trips with mops to remove the mess found on a carpet inside the church near the West Steps - just yards from the anti-capitalist protest camp.

One cleric furious at the use of the building 'as a latrine' said: ' This is desecration of a very holy place. it hurts me and it hurts the staff.'

Protest camp: Masked demonstrators outside St Paul's Cathedral which has been daubed and human waste left inside the building

The cathedral workers have met senior clergy to vent their feelings over the clean-up.

St Paul's has blamed 'hangers on' and not protesters at the tented camp which closed one of London's most iconic attractions for a number of days last month.

Cathedral spokesman, The Rev Rob Marshall, told the Sunday Times: 'We are aware of these kind of problems and raising them in our daily talks with camp members who we are not presuming at all are responsible.'

Two senior clerics have quit since the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp was set up on October 15 as part of a global campaign against corporate greed.

The cathedral was shut on health and safety grounds, but reopened on October 27.

Vandalism: A protester tries to clean spray paint off St Paul's Cathedral. They awoke this morning to find '666' 'ACDC' and a heart spray painted onto the walls

Today shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said the cathedral was wrong to shut its doors. He claimed the job of the church was not just to 'comfort the afflicted, but afflict the comfortable.'

WE WERE CALLED BABY KILLERS SAYS POPPY SELLER

They were insulted after after refusing to hand over a free box of the poppies so the demonstrators could distribute in the camp.

Former soldier Stephen Newson told the Sunday Express: 'It was shameful to be called baby killers but the squaddies showed restraint and ignored them.'

The Royal British Legion normally makes as much as £100,000 a year by selling poppies on the front steps of the church.

But this year takings are dramatically down. Mr Newson, 51, who was injured in the 1982 Regent's Park IRA bomb blast, said: 'This is hitting us hard.'

A camp spokesman said the slur was 'unlikely' to have been made by official camp protesters.

Speaking to Jeremy Vine, on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Alexander said the demonstrators were speaking to a 'general unease' in the country.

Meanwhile, vandals have spray painted '666' next to the main entrance.The provocative 'number of the beast' was daubed in silver paint on a wall to the left-hand side of the Christopher Wren masterpiece.

It was painted at head height in the middle of a silver painted heart near to the entrance and tagged LCDG! with an anarchist logo.

Protesters were pictured trying to scrub off the paint but were told to stop in case they damaged the building.

Worshippers and visitors to the historic place of worship, outside where anti-capitalist protesters are camping, reacted with outrage.

June Burton, who has been worshipping at the Cathedral since she began working in the City in the 1970s, said: 'It's absolutely disgusting. There are no words really to say, just disgusting.'

Referring to the protest camp, the 69-year-old, from Essex, added: 'The whole thing is unbelievable.

'Where is it going to end? It's an absolute eyesore.'

Tourist Ian Tomson, 59, from Melbourne in Australia, said: 'I am not a Christian, but I find it horrendous - the devil's number on the church.'

Photographer Will Hilton, 26 from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who is camping with and documenting the protest, said: 'I don't like it.

'We should be respectful to the Cathedral. I think most people are. But there are always people that take it too far.'

Annabel Watson, 75, from Devon, said: 'It's terrible, but I feel people are doing it to discredit these people.

The number was painted at head height in the middle of a silver painted heart near to the entrance and tagged LCDG! with an anarchist logo

'They have put forward such a peaceful and respectful face, people won't believe it's them.'

One of the protest organisers Charles, 22 from the Isle of Wright, who has camped out for two weeks, said: 'We condemn this.

'We are trying to work with the Church as much as we can, but I can't imagine its from us as there are no spray cans on site.'

Reverend Bob Marshall, speaking for the Cathedral, said: 'It is abhorrent that anybody will do this.

'We condemn those who deface the Cathedral in this way.

'We have no evidence who is responsible for this until our security guys look into it. There are cameras around.

'We just have to investigate. It's not the first damage that's been caused to the Cathedral since this whole story began. We are investigating each case and we are logging them.

'But there is some evidence people are doing this because of our relationship with the protesters.'

'MOVE YOUR TENTS SO WE CAN PARADE': D-DAY VETERAN, 91, REMONSTRATES WITH PROTESTERS

A Second World War veteran begged
anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St Paul's to have some
respect for those trying to mark Remembrance Sunday at the cathedral.

Wally
Harris, 91, went to the cathedral to ask the activists to move their
tents so that his City of London Regiment could parade in honour of
their fallen comrades.

The
former Rolls-Royce mechanic from Bracknell, Berkshire, won the military
medal for gallantry after he fought on Gold Beach in Normandy on D-Day
and was part of the force that liberated Brussels.

Not impressed: Wally Harris remonstrated with the anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St Paul's Cathedral in London

He said: 'I thought as I was in
London and it's close to my heart, I wanted to talk to them to see what
their intention is to use the space on Remembrance Sunday.

'Haven't
they got any respect for what happened all those years ago? A million
people lost their lives. Can't they move their tents to allow us to
parade?'

Concerned: Mr Harris, who fought on Gold Beach in Normandy, is concerned his City of London regiment will not be able to parade on November 13

Mr Harris - in
London to help publicise the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families
Association - said he was hopeful that the demonstrators would relent.

Ronan McNern, a spokesman for Occupy
London Stock Exchange, said the protesters were 'liaising with the
Church' to prevent disruption on November 13.

He said four of the tents had been moved to create a fire exit.

'The last thing we'd want to do is be disrespectful to the people attending,' he added.'

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St Paul's staff having to clean up human waste INSIDE the cathedral as protestors 'use it as a latrine'